AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘What is your obsession with this drink?’
‘I’ve never had one,’ she admitted. ‘I heard Jordan talking about them the other week.’
‘What else was your for-hire man going to do?’ he asked.
She wanted his eyes to reveal anger or jealousy, but instead they were warm with curiosity.
‘I hadn’t decided.’
‘Why not for your twenty-ninth?’
‘I only just decided.’
‘To get it over and done with?’
‘Yes.’
‘Do you know, a century ago—?’
‘Don’t worry. I was never expecting marriage.’
‘Well, you’d never have got it. Unless you have a couple of countries tucked away that you haven’t told me about. Even then it would have to go to counsel—’
‘Never expecting to be your mistress, then.’ She glared. ‘Your hetaera, or whatever you call them.’
‘Oh, no.’ He shook his head. ‘You’d need serious connections to get that title.’
It hurt, but she knew he wasn’t wrong.
‘I don’t make the rules, Beatrice. I live them. A century ago you would have had your choice of gold amulet.’
Beatrice met his eyes and even laughed. ‘Well, luckily it’s not a century ago—and anyway, I told you I’m allergic to gold.’
‘Nobody’s allergic to gold.’
‘Well, I am. It brings me out in welts.’ She pushed away his hand. ‘I’m going to have a shower.’
‘No, no...’ he said. ‘I haven’t yet told you why I don’t sleep with virgins.’
‘Go ahead!’
‘Because, as you know, I don’t get to have close friends. Nor do I get to have relationships.’
‘Come off it!’ She blew a sharp breath out from her mouth. After all, she had spent the last few months dealing with the fallout of his relationships...
‘Listen to me,’ he warned, in a voice that told her he was completely serious. ‘I don’t get to be close to anyone unless it’s family, or my future bride.’
‘What? Now that you’re the heir?’
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘Always. I told you. I wasn’t even allowed close friends.’
Yes, he had told her that.
‘I have had relationships—but not deep ones. Not a single one. I have always known that my wife will be chosen with politics in mind, and with an understanding that should the unthinkable happen she would be queen consort.’
‘What has that to do with me?’
‘Nothing,’ he told her. ‘At all.’
